Have you ever wondered what it would be like to completely restore an old abandoned home? Well that's exactly what this sassy little southern woman is doing with a late 1800's Louisiana dog-trot. Follow along as I renovate my family's beloved historic home on a shoestring budget. Restoring a piece of American history doesn't have to be expensive, so long as you aren't afraid to use a little elbow grease.
Wanna get in touch with me? Email jacs(dot)lewis(at)yahoo (dot)com.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

BLOOD MOON ECLIPSE over SUGAR CREEK

Yesterday morning we saw a gorgeous lunar eclipse.

The kiddos and I awoke before 5am on Wednesday morning and headed down the road to an opening in the trees that lets us see two different ridge lines from one hilltop. We pulled over and there she was... the beautiful, shaded moon.... and the pre-dawn sky was so dark that the stars were shining down on us like spotlights from the heavens.

Sugar Creek, Louisiana is unlike the rest of the state. I was raised about an hour's drive away, in small-town Sarepta, and until I found this house in the woods I had no idea that there was a tiny region of my state that seems more mountain foothill than swampy bayou or pine-scented, flat-floored forest. And it was here, in the rolling hills of a region of our state that is practically unknown to the rest of the world, that my kids and I found ourselves sitting on a hilltop nestled between two ridge lines and grinning beneath the blood moon eclipse of 2014.

It's magical to see the shadow of our planet being cast upon our moon. Every time I have the privilege of seeing an eclipse I always feel like it's a blessing, and yesterday morning I had the distinct feeling that we were seeing something EXTRA special.

Miles turned to me mid-eclipse and asked what ancient people would have thought about when they happened upon an eclipse. Then he mentioned that he thought the Natives here had probably wondered if such a thing was a sign from God.

I grinned and gave my twelve-year old the surprise of his life by talking about the ancient Mayans and calendars so precise that make ours today look out-of-date. We spoke of Poverty Point, and of Serpent Mound, and the mathematically and astronomically genius civilization (the Mississippian Culture) that walked these very lands long ago. We talked about ancient Egypt (one of our favorite subjects) and other societies that loved the sky and had a thorough understanding of eclipses long before our european ancestors made their "discoveries." And it made me think....

Many people today are taught lessons in school, such as lunar cycles and other wonders of astronomy, and never really take the time to truly understand the material that they're studying. I've heard so many people talk of the blood eclipse as a sign that God is about to destroy mankind and usher in an apocalypse. Why do we STILL, after thousands and thousands of years, assume that such an act of nature is a WARNING? Maybe God just wants us to see the shadow of our planet every once in a while so that we may put our own existence into perspective.

The boys and I try to learn lessons from everything we go through in this life. And this morning I'm thinking about the shadows that have darkened my world and blocked me from the light of happier times. I've been through divorce. I've lost people that I loved to sudden, unexpected death. I've been cheated on, beaten, taken advantage of, and along the way I've made the conscious decision to LEARN from the experiences and grow as a person--and to never allow the personal eclipses that darken my little world to make me unable to see the sun when it appears again. You see, I believe that we learn our biggest lessons and grow our spirits the most during hard times. We don't always understand the shadowy things that happen in our lives, and if we're not careful it's easy to assume that shadows are "evil" or "eerie." But like the eclipse of the moon, a little knowledge goes a long way.

Is it not true that we learn the most valuable lessons from hard times? I am the person I have become because of the wonderful AND the terrible things that have happened to me. And I'm sure the same can be said about you.

I've noticed that most of us tend to focus on the shadows that fall across our lives and don't quite realize the true meaning behind it. If I didn't understand science, I wouldn't have been able to recognize the reasons for the eclipse yesterday morning. And if I didn't learn lessons from difficult times, I wouldn't be able to truly appreciate the good times.

Many ancient societies (and even modern ones, at that) saw eclipses as very foreboding. They believed them to be a warning that God was about to punish the earth. And though modern society hasn't fully learned to see eclipses as something profoundly beautiful, I am teaching my children to view the darkness as it sweeps across the surface of the moon and understand that we're seeing the shadow of something much bigger than us--we're seeing the shadow of our own home. And what a beautiful shadow it is.....

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The House at Sugar Creek

Here is our pre-renovation photo of our darling dog-trot before we begin the restoration process. Feel free to watch us transform her back to her original glory. These gorgeous old homes are disappearing at an alarming rate, and we hope to inspire you to take on a similar project of your own!

Would you consider beginning a project like this one?

What a view!

Few things in life are as relaxing as a lazy summer evening spent on a front porch listening to the whipporwhil call and the crickets chirp. The view from this upstairs window gives you a peek into the beauty of nature that we will see every single day of our life at Sugar Creek.

Unique Features

What do we love about this home? It's unique features, of course! Here is a pre-restoration picture of the rounded celilings in the upstairs bedrooms. It's just one of the dozens of touches that made us fall in love with The House at Sugar Creek.

HISTORIC PHOTOS of THE HOUSE

We've just been given copies of old family photos taken at The House at Sugar Creek! Here is a tiny sampler of things to come... we'll post them and talk more about the history of the house very soon.

Coke Bottles from the Root Cellar

It's hard to imagine what life would have been like in the eras before air conditioning and refridgerators. Food was kept in root cellars, hidden away underground where temperatures were cooler and water did not evaporate in the mid-summer sun. Dog-trots were built into the center of homes as a way to filter the breeze. Our little dog-trot is an example of both breezeways and root cellars, and we were delighted to find the original jars of preserves and old bottles still hidden away beneath the ground. Here are a few tiny pieces of our home's history that we found tucked away in the root cellar.